Automatic coupling.



No. 877,664. PATENTHD JAN. 28, 1908. J. RILEY & F. A; SPIERS.

AUTOMATIC COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1907.

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No. 877,664. PATENTED JAN. 28, 1908.

J. RILEY & F. A. SPIERS. AUTOMATIC COUPLING.

APPLICATION TILED JULY 25. 1907.

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PATENTED JAN. 28, 1908.

I. RILEY & I; A. SPIERS. AUTOMATIC COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1907- I v 6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Wwnasses: v I x W Wc Wad M I THE NORRIS PETERS C0,, WASHINGTON, n. c.

No. 877,664. PATENTED JAN. 28, 1908.

J. RILEY & F. A. SPIERS. I

AUTOMATIC COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1907.

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J. RILEY & F. A. SPIERS.

PATENTED JAN. 28, 1908;

AUTOMATIC OOUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1907.

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PATENTED JAN. 28, 1908.

J. RILEY & F. A. SPIERS. AUTOMATIC COUPLING.

APPLIOATIONTILED JULYZfi. 1907. I

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UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

JAMES RILEY, OF SOUTHAMPTON, AND FREDERICK ALFRED SPIERS, OF HAMPSTEAD,

' ENGLAND.

AUTOMATIC COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 28, 1908.

Application filed July 25. 1907- Serial No. 385,541.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES RILEY and FREDERioK ALFRED SPIERs, subjectsof the King of Great Britain, the former residing at Hawarden, BitternePark, Southampton, in the county of Hants, engineer, and the latterformerly residing at St. Benet Chambers, 1 Fenchurch street, in the cityof London, but now residing at Heatherlea, The Vale, Hampstead, in thecounty of Middlesex, auctioneer, both in England, have invented certainnew and useful lmprovements in Automatic Couplings, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:

The invention relates to improvements upon an invention in respect ofwhich We filed an application for Letters Patent dated the 3rd day ofMay, 1906, Serial No. 371,734.

The primary object of the invention is to obtain a double coupling whichwill automatically engage when two vehicles are brought together whichmay be disengaged from the sides of the carriage without the necessityfor passing between the same held disengaged and if desired used as ahand operated coupling. And in order that the said invention may be moreclearly understood and readily carried into effect we will proceed aidedby the accompanying drawings more fully to describe the same.

Description of the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation partly insection the section being taken on the line 11 of Fig. 2 of parts of tworailway trucks or wagons having the present invention applied theretoand showing them coupled together the buffers being omitted for the sakeof clearness. Fig. 2 is a plan thereof. Fig. 3 is an end elevationthereof partly in section the section being taken on the line 22 ofFig. 1. part of Fig. 1 showing the hook of the draw bar in its raised oracting position. Fig. 5 is Fig. 6 is a similar view to Fig. 4 butshowing the hook of the draw bar in its lowered or non acting position.Fig. 7 is a similar view to Fig. 6 but showing one of the jaws beingdepressed by its hand lever and its coupling hook being pulled down byits chain and depressing the opposite jaw and coupling hook. Fig. 8 is aside elevation of the broad hook separately. Fig. 9 is a plan thereof.Fig. 10 is a front elevation thereof. Fig. 11 is a side elevation of theFig. 4 represents In the several figures like parts are indi- I cated bysimilar letters of reference and Figs. 4 to 6 and 8 to 13 and 16 aredrawn to an increased scale, with respect to the other figures of thedrawings.

a represents the undercarriage or frame of the trucks which is of theusual character.

a represents'the buffer beam. I

b represents the wheels and 0 represents the draw bar.

The hook c of the draw bar 0 is provided with a link (1 having fixedtherewith a coupling hook (I at its end formed pointed or beveled whileits engaging part immediately to the rear of the point is formed flat orslightly under cutand which may be employed with the ordinary chaincoupling if desired. Or the coupling hook (1 may be otherwise connectedwith the draw bar 0.

Mounted upon the face of the buffer beam 0/ of each carriage isa broaddownwardly directed hook e the face of which is curved to a suitable arcto admit of the carriage taking curves and the broad hook e is carriedwith capability of horizontal movement longitudinally of the carriage bythe outer end of a central rod eof round although it might be of othersuitable section which asses through a bearing (1 provided in the bufferbeam a and which at its inner end bears against an elliptic or it mightbe any other suitable form of spring f by which it and consequently thebroad hook e is supported so that said hook will act as a buffer and thes ring f at its ends takes an abutment against b ocks 0. bolted to theunder carriage a or the spring f might be otherwise supported.

The inner end of the rod 6 is fitted with a boss or enlargement e whichforms an extended bearing surface and said boss is provided with aflange e which extends-over the spring f and prevents it rising.

The broad hook e is formed with a flange e and slidably passing throughbearings a in the buffer beam (1 are the reduced or rounded ends of ayoke g and said reduced or rounded ends pass with capability of slidingthrough plain holes 0 in the flange e of the broad hook ebeyond whichsaid ends are fitted with nuts g or other stops so that the broad hook 6may be forced inward to act as a buffer without giving motion to theyoke g in that direction While the movement of the yoke in the samedirection will be arrested by or communicated to the broad hook e.

The inner end of the yoke g is cranked to form a plate 9 or it might beconnected with a separate plate and said plate is perforated and mountedupon the draw bar 0 with capability of sliding and at a point to therear of the buffer beam the draw bar 0 is provided with a shoulder c orit might be an equivalent contrivance so that a pull upon the broad hook6 will partake of the spring resistance of the draw bar 0 while at thesame time the broad hook e is free to move inward without giving motionto the drawv bar 0. Or the broad hook might be otherwise mounted andconnectedwith the draw bar 0.

Beneath the broad hook e is a broad jaw h which upon its face is curvedsimilarly to the broad hook and said aw is provided with rearwardoffsets h formed with bosses 7L2 by which the jaw is loosely mountedupon a rock shaft 7L revolubly mounted in bearings provided in bracketsor hangers h* fixed with the buffer beam 0,.

The oflsets h are continued beyond the rock shaft h in the form of acranked loop or frame 7L3 which engages one end of a spring 7f,preferably a plate spring as shown the office of which is to retain thejaw h in its raised or normal position and the j aw is thus held up tothe broad hook 6 with a yielding or s ring pressure with the couplinghook d of t e draw bar held securely between said parts and supported inthe required horizontal or acting position for coupling purposes. Or acounter balance weight'or any other suitable I yielding means might beemployed for thus supporting the j aw h.

The jaw 72 is provided with lateral cheeks 7i beveled at 72/ to co-actwith the corresponding bevels 6 upon the sides of the broad hook e andthe front edges of both the jaw 72 and. the broad hook e are inwardlybeveled so that upon the two carriages or wagons being brought togetherthe pointed or beveled coupling hook d of the opposite draw bar uponeach carriage or wagon will come against the beveled edges of thecoacting broad hook e and movable jaw h and force the latter downward sothat the coupling hook of passes between them as shown at Fig. 16 andthen being lifted up by the movable spring raised jaw h will engage thebroad hook e and be so held as shown at Figs. 1 to 3.

Each of the movable jaws his formed. with notches or recesses 7L8 h theone 72,8 being somewhat deeper by reason of its being higher than thath** and the link or shank d of the coupling hook cl upon each carriageor wagon lies on the deeper notch 7L8 of the movable jaw h so that inthe normal or raised position of said jaw the coupling hook (1 will beheld in the requisite engaging position relatively to the broad hook eand jaw 72, upon an opposite wagon the shallower notches 71 in the jaw hserving to guide the coupling hooks d into the required positionsrelatively to the broad hooks e and jaws 7L.

The drawbar c is by way of example shown to be formed in two parts orlengths and the coupling hooks (Z of the drawbars c are suit ably spacedby arranging each draw bar diagonally as shown at Fig. 2 so that thecoupling hooks (1 upon the opposite ends of meeting wagons will be indifferent vertical planes and pass clear of one another.

The opposite ends 0 of the two parts of the drawbar c are connected by aspring 0 to afford the usual spring resistance or the draw bar might beformed in one length and springs such as 0 arranged to act in eitherdirection of pull. Or the spacing of the coupling hooks (Z might bearrived at by cranking the drawbar or by employing two separate drawbarsparallel to one another but located in different vertical planes andprovided with separate springs or the same result might be attained inother ways.

The rock shaft 7& extends to the sides of the carriage or wagon where itis provided with curved handles or levers 7L fixed thereon by which itmay be turned through a suitable angle and also fixed upon the rockshaft h centrally thereof is a finger or offset h which is adapted toactupon. the cranked loop or frame 72/ of the offsets of the jaw 72/ sothat by turning the rock shaft if by means of the hand levers h it maybe caused to raise the loop 7L3 and therefore depress the movable jaw 7bas shown at Fig. 6 and permit the coupling or draw bar hook d to fallfor the purpose of uncoupling.

In order to render this action of the coupling hook (Z positive it isconnected with the movable jaw h by a short length of chain d or itmight beany other suitable connection and thus by operating one of thehand levers h" at one side of one carriage or wagon the movable jaw 71on the opposite carriage will be depressed by the coupling hook d of thefirst carriage as shown at Fig. 7 and the uncoupling of the carriageswill be effected by one person by the use of one hand.

The movable jaw 7L and the hook d are held out of action by the handlever h but in order to positively lock the parts in that position whendesired the following device is provided.

The curved hand levers 7t of the rock shaft 7L are provided with ratchetteeth or notches h and extending across the end of the wagon or carriageto the sides thereof is a shaft 01 which is revolubly mounted inbearings providedin hangers or brackets i from the buffer beam a and oneach end of this shaft is fixed by one extremity a U shaped arm 'Lformed with a laterally projecting tooth or detent t adapted to engagethe teeth or notches it of the corresponding hand lever h".

The U shaped arms t are adapted to be turned into such a position thattheir teeth or detents t engage the teeth or notches h of the handlevers h when they act to positively retain said hand levers andconsequently the movable jaw 72, and coupling hook d in their depressedposition out of action as shown at Fig. 6 by which means the couplingmay be rendered inoperative when desired.

The U shaped arm forms a counterweight so that in its turned backposition as shown at Figs. 1 to 4 it forms a counterweight to hold thetooth or detent '6 out of action or said arm might be otherwisecounterweighted or the tooth or detent otherwise held out of action.

The coupling hooks (1 may be employed in connection with the ordinarychain coupling when desired while the coupling may be rendered handoperative when necessary.

By the means hereinbefore described a sim- 'ple inexpensive and reliablecoupling is obtained which whether worked automatically or by hand maybe operated from either side of the carriage and the uncoupling orcoupling effected by one person by the use of one hand thereby avoidingthe necessity for the railway men passing between the carriages and theconsequent risk of injury and economizing labor while the doubleconstruction that is the employment of a double set of hooks cl and eaffords great security against the breaking apart of the carriages orwagons.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be per formed we declarethat what we claim is 1. In an automatic coupling a broad hook mountedcentrally upon each carriage with capability of movement longitudinallyof the carriage, springs acting to support the same against inwardpressure so that they will act as buffers, cou ling hooks adapted toengage the broad hoo (S, shoulders upon the drawbar, connections fromthebroad hooks to the drawbars adapted to act upon said shoulders in thedrawing direction and means for bringing the coupling hooks into andtaking them out of engagement with the broad hooks substantially asherein shown and described and for the purpose stated.

2. In an automatic coupling a broad hook mounted centrally upon eachcarriage, a pivotally mounted broad jaw beneath each broad hook, apivotally mounted coupling hook supported by each jaw and adapted toengage the opposite broad hook, flexible connections between the broadjaws and the coupling hooks, means for holding the broad jaws in theirraised positions and means for depressing the same from either side ofthe carriage substantially as herein shown and described and for thepurpose stated.

3. In an automatic coupling a broad hook mounted centrally upon eachcarriage, a broad jaw loosely mounted upon a cross shaft beneath eachbroad hook, a pivotally mounted coupling hook supported by each jaw andadapted to engage the opposite broad hook, flexible connections betweenthe broad jaws and the coupling hooks, a cross shaft loosely carryingeach broad jaw and extending to the sides of the carriage, a downwardlycranked loop from the broad jaw, a spring constantly pressing on saidloop in one direction to raise the jaw, an offset from the cross shaftengaging the other side 9f said loop and ada ted to move it in the otherdirection to epress the jaw, a hand lever fixed on each end of the crossshaft at each side of the carriage and means for locking the hand leversin the position to which they have been turned substantially as hereinshown and described and for the purpose stated. I

4. In an automatic coupling a broad hook mounted centrally upon eachcarriage, a broad jaw loosely .mounted on a cross shaft beneath eachbroad hook, a pivotally mounted coupling hook supported by each jaw andadapted to engage the opposite broad hook, flexible connections betweenthe broad jaws and the coupling hooks, a cross shaft loosely carryingeach broad jaw and extending to the sides of the carriage, a downwardlycranked loop from the broad jaw, a spring constantly pressing on saidloop in one di rection to raise the jaw, an offset from the cross shaftengaging the other side of said loop and adapted to move it in the otherdirection to depress. the jaw, a curved hand lever fixed on each end ofthe cross shaft notches in the curved part of each lever, a second crossshaft extending to the sides of the carriage and having counterweightedarms fixed upon the ends thereof each provided with a tooth adapted toengage the notches of the hand levers substantially as herein shown anddescribed andfor the purpose stated.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES RILEY. FREDERICK ALFRED SIIERS. Witnesses:

C. MELBOURNE WHITE, JAMES A. HUusoN.

